Last year, it started legal action against Aldi over its Cuthbert the Caterpillar cake, which it claimed was similar infringed its trademark for its famous Colin the Caterpillar. Pour the mix onto the pizza pan or into the lined tin and level the top.Bake for 25 minutes, then remove from the oven andleave to cool. Marks & Spencer has agreed to end a dispute with the confectionery company Swizzels after accusing it of copying its Percy Pig sweets.

Swizzels, which is based in Derbyshire, has been making sweets since 1928, and also makes lines including Refreshers and Parma Violets.Meanwhile, Swizzels had argued that the trademark registered by M&S was such poor quality that the face “looks more like a teddy bear than a pig”. For the buttercream, beat together the butter, dessert sauce, icing sugar and milk until smooth. Gradually add drops of pink or red food colouring, mixing after each addition, until the buttercream is as pink as Percy. Lawyers for M&S said in November last year that the Pigs Mugs sweets were so similar to Percy Pigs that shoppers may buy the Swizzels brand by accident. The retailer believes Swizzels’ Pigs Mugs treats are “highly similar” to Percy and say that confused customers could buy the wrong ones.

Last month, The Grocer reported that copycat products were ”artificially hiking prices in cost of living crisis”, according to evidence sent to Trading Standards and the Competition & Markets Authority by the British Brands Group. An M&S spokesman said: “M&S has a proud history as a leading British innovator and for over 136 years customers have turned to M&S for unique, original, quality products – conceived, created and developed alongside trusted suppliers and produced to the highest standards.However, with Swizzels’ almost 26 years of concurrent use, the hurdle for M&S is whether this is an example of honest co-existence, or whether Swizzels has acted unfairly.” The brand has been a key part of M&S’s efforts to reinvent itself as a family food retailer, featuring in its Christmas ads and a plethora of different products from pyjamas to cupcakes as well as the original confectionery.

In its legal submission, M&S cited an example of a customer who loved the fruit gums so much they had got a tattoo of Percy’s face.

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M&S has a proud history as a leading British innovator and for over 136 years customers have turned to M&S for unique, original, quality products – conceived, created and developed alongside trusted suppliers and produced to the highest standards,” anM&S spokesman said.

I love how pink this treat is! Use Percy sponge roll to whip up this tasty trifle, topped with Percy Pig sweets. Serves six. It is indisputable that ‘Percy Pig’ has built up substantial goodwill and reputation in the UK since M&S launched the sweet in 1992.

The case is reminiscent of the high-profile legal battle that pitted M&S against Aldi, in which the upscale grocer sued the German discounter for “ripping off” its popular birthday cake Colin the Caterpillar. Fancy the sweetest slice of Percy Pig flavour? Try my delicious giant cookie idea, which stars a biscuit base, Percy Pig dessert sauce, buttercream and our multicoloured Party Percys.